Commentary I keep a few books close at hand as much for their titles as for their contents. Ralph Buchsbaum’s zoological classic “Animals Without Backbones” is one such volume. I always put it on my desk when writing about academic administrators in order to remind myself what species of creature I’m confronting. An even more useful volume is Walter Pitkin’s 1932 classic “A Short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity.” At 574 pages, it’s short only in relation to its gargantuan subject, for which it’s the barest précis. By the early 1960s, Detroit, Michigan, was the most prosperous city in the United States, which at that moment also meant that it was the most prosperous city in the world. Then came the Democrats. Within a generation, they destroyed the city. It was the scene of violent race riots. The whites moved out, leaving the city a shell of its …